Final Fantasy VII: Rockstar
by WarpedTourZERO
Summary: With the planet saved from the threat of Sephiroth, and everything has returned to an even more peaceful state now that Shinra is history. A new ambition sparks within Cloud, the desire to to start a band! UPDATED FINALLY! RR PLEASE!
1. Hit the Ground Running

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DISCLAIMER: I do not own, nor did I create any of the characters in the original FF7 universe. However, Squaresoft Inc. does, and all credit goes to them for all of the unoriginal characters, locations, and organizations in this story.

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Chapter 1: Hit The Ground Running

Cloud sat atop the water tower in Nibelheim with a guitar in his lap scribbling furiously into a spiral notebook with a thoroughly gnawed pen. It had been almost a year since the events in which he and his companions had rescued the planet from Sephiroth's devious plan to destroy it. It seemed almost impossible that in a little less than a year everyone was able to return back to their normal lives, going back to the regular daily routine and seemingly forget all about the epic adventure that had been recalled in several books, including the Midgar Times bestseller _Final Fantasy VII_ (Cloud still couldn't figure out how the hell the author came up with that title). Although he was sure the public was eternally grateful for the apocalyptic deaths he had spared them all from, Cloud and the rest of the gang's 15 minutes of fame were long over, no longer did people wave at him and thank him for what he had done, the time had passed for that, and the truth was, Cloud secretly missed it.

Cloud remained in contact on a weekly basis with the rest of AVALANCHE, who all had the luxury of continuing on with the lives they had established in the old, corrupted days when Shinra ruled over the continents. because Cloud's old life thrived on extinguishing that corruption, he did not have that ability, and now that it was gone he was left in the wake of the worlds now peaceful progression to start a new life from somewhere near scratch. Of course, he still managed to get by, He moved all of his belongings to his mothers house, which was now his, as it was stated in her will, and currently resided there. Immediately after AVALACHE disbanded Cloud had spent many of his days venturing the planet, which he had traveled across several times. It was on one of those days that his new ambition sparked, He wanted to start a band.

In one of the newly formed towns, Kentwing, which is located on the island just north of the one Mideel rests on, An elderly musician by the name of Sean Landburgh opened a shop where he crafts instruments. At the first chance he got, Cloud eagerly made the journey to Kentwing and had a custom guitar crafted for him by the wise old man. He also received lessons for about six months from Sean on the house because of something the wise man saw in Cloud, who assumed it may have been his determination. None of Clouds friends knew about this, with the exception of Tifa, since she lived right down the street from him and was probably his closest friend out of all of them, since Cloud and her visited each other on pretty much a daily basis.

Cloud was going to announce his plan and possibly show off to his friends the progress he had made in composing music at the upcoming anniversary of AVALANCHE'S thwarting of Sephiroth and his twisted quest., which was taking place at Tifa's new bar, the respectively named Tifa's 7th Heaven (in memory of her original establishment that was lost in the destruction of Sector 7), in four days. But there was one problem, he was having a writer's block, so now Cloud was looking toward the anniversary celebration as an opportunity for inspiration, guidance, and possible to recruit musicians for his currently nameless band, which still needed a bassist, drummer, and if there was an offer, a rhythm guitarist. 

Cloud scratched out another failed attempt at writing a catchy riff, slung his guitar over his shoulder, and climbed down to the town square where he began the short stroll to his front door. That was when he heard a crash, and whipped around just in time to see a very muscular figure land on the cobblestone street amongst the shattered remains of the front window of Tifa's 7th Heaven. Sure enough Tifa hopped through the remains of the busted window just in time to see the man rise, her fist met the drunken attackers face with an incredible amount of force, causing him to stagger back. He regained his balance and was about to charge at Tifa when he was tapped on the shoulder, the shitfaced fighter turned around and stared, perplexed, at a smirking Cloud for a millisecond, but in that millisecond Cloud wound up as hard as he could and let lose a menacing right hook, which rendered the barfly unconscious.

"You know, you didn't have to hit him that hard…." Tifa began  
"I was just a _little_ frustrated ." Cloud replied with his excuse, still staring at the man, who now had blood trickling out of his mouth.

"So which side do you want?" asked Tifa, this was normal business for her, every now and then a customer would loose their temper easily after drinking too much and she would be the one in charge of disposing of them. 

" I'll take him by myself this time Tiifa" and with that, Cloud slowly hoisted the stranger up and slung him over his shoulder. He strolled down the alleyway to the left of the bar and tossed the man onto a pile of trash bags. He walked back out into the street casually, dusting his hands off, it was just one of the many times he had made that trip. He found Tifa staring at the gaping hole in the window with a look of concern on her face. 

"So, what are we going to do about that?" Asked cloud, now observing the hole alongside his friend.

"I supposed we could get Midgar Maintenance to repair it before the party…" said Tifa optimistically "But what we have to do now is clean up this mess!" and with that she began gathering up the larger pieces of glass while Cloud went inside to get the push broom. 

"Wow, I haven't done this since… two Thursdays ago I think." Cloud announced, his voice laced with sarcastic nostalgia.

Tifa giggled and then replied "Well, I think this means its time for me regulate my customers' drink limits a little more so they don't get pissed off at last call. You know, this never happened when I had my bar in the slums." Tifa stated thoughtfully.

"That's most likely because this is the only way you can get to Rocket Town on foot, and with that now becoming a more industrialized place, due Cid and Shera finally mustering up enough money to start building the new rocket. A lot of people are going to be coming through here And even the bad guys get thirsty every once and a while." Tifa nodded in agreement, and they went back to cleaning up the remaining glass shards. The two finally finished cleaning up in the wee hours of the morning and sat down on the window sill of Tifa's 7th Heaven. Cloud yawned with exhaustion while he stood up and slung his guitar over his shoulder again, he had taken it off before knocking out the drunk, and picked up his red spiral notebook. "Well, I think I should head in for the night." he said drowsily

Tifa jumped up "Oh wait! I have something to show you! Just hold on a sec!" Cloud was about to protest and ask her to wait until tomorrow, but she was inside before his brain could register the thought.

"Aw, screw it…" he muttered, and sat down again.

Tifa came back outside with a what appeared to be a guitar case, but the neck was a little longer, even with tiredness overcoming him Cloud recognized what she had instantly,

"A bass!" he exclaimed "when did you get it!"

"I went to pick it up this morning, but you were visiting Cid when I got back so I never got to show you"

"Open the case! I wanna see it!" Cloud was so excited, now all he needed was a drummer for him to get started on the long path to his dream. Tifa giggled at Cloud's enthusiasm and opened the case. The bass had a glittery blue body with a white center, It had a nicely sanded neck with baby blue fret markers, and the headstock was carved and painted to look like a breaking wave.

"NICE!" exclaimed Cloud, a second wind of energy had filled his senses, but then faded away as Tifa put the bass away.

"The only thing is I…uh…don't know how to play…." She said, trying to still sound confident.

"Did you talk to Sean about lessons?" Cloud asked eagerly.

"Yeah, he says weekly lessons are 60000 gil a month." Tifa answered "I don't know of I can start them just yet, I've already had to replace the front window twice…."

"Hmm…" Cloud muttered as he thought out the problem "I could probably lend you some money, I've got plenty after going monster hunting around Bone Village last week, but before you pay Sean, mention that you are starting a band with me, and he might just give them to you for free. Well, that's a nice bass you have, make sure nothing happens to it! I should head in now, see ya Tifa!" Tifa hugged Cloud goodnight and they went back to their respective houses. Cloud walked at a crawling pace toward his front door, his head now swirling inside with droopiness, as soon as he was inside he propped his guitar up against the wall, locked and bolted the door, tossed his notebook onto the otherwise clear floor, and threw himself onto his bed, where he nodded off almost on impact.  
  
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Authors note: _Yeah, I hope you liked the first chapter, as I am most likely going to continue the story since I enjoyed writing this very much. What I am aiming for in this is a sequel with a unique plot that ties much of the original story into it logistically. What I don't want to happen is for this story to turn into a big joke. have any comments, questions, or criticism? Leave it for me on the reviews pages. Thanks._


	2. We're a Happy Family

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DISCLAIMER: I do not own, nor did I create any of the characters in the original FF7 universe. However, Squaresoft Inc. does, and all credit goes to them for all of the unoriginal characters, locations, and organizations in this story.

Chapter 2: We're a Happy Family

The four days leading up to the reunion party Cloud spent practicing songs with Tifa. He had to play down to her level, since she hadn't even owned the bass for a week. But Cloud taught her how to read bass tablature, which was read the exact same way as guitar tablature, except the bass has less strings. Tifa was polishing the bar counter when Cloud showed up the night of the party, he went behind the bar and helped himself to a drink.

"You know I don't like you doing that!" Tifa snapped.

"Yep." replied Cloud simply. Tifa gave him a friendly punch in the arm, and then went back to checking that everything was in order.

"Hmmm… Its quarter past 7, I wonder where everyone is…."Tifa muttered. As if someone had read her mind, The deafening roar of engines could be heard just outside of town. Cloud and Tifa rushed out and, sure enough, the Highwind had just touched down. The two jogged over to where the airship had landed, apparently Cid had picked up everyone. The ex-AVALANCHE members filed out of the plane with their families. First came Cid and Shera, followed by Red XIII, who had Marlene riding on his back, Barret was walking next to them, Reeve came out after that with a delighted Cait Sith bobbing up and down beside him, Then Vincent came, striding in his usual mysterious nature. A few seconds later a green-tinged Yuffie appeared, supported by a blue-haired boy that looked around her age wearing a Stiff Little Fingers T-shirt.

"Oh God, let's get her to the toilet before she hurls!" Tifa exclaimed, but it was too late, Yuffie's lunch came out in a spew of sickly colored liquid onto the deck of the Highwind. The materia hunter's face returned to its usual color and stood up straight, a look of relief on her face.

"Phew, that feels a lot better!…uh, sorry Cid…."

"No problem kid, although, I did just clean that today." Said Cid, going back into the ship to get a mop, muttering curses under his breath. After the mess got cleaned up greetings were exchanged. The party began the trek back to the bar. The three girls we're sitting at the bar discussing Yuffie's new boyfriend, who's name was Gonshiro Inukai, The guys were sitting at a round table in the corner, talking about what each other had been up to in the past few months, and Marlene was playing with the now AI controlled Cait Sith.

Cid had taken his curiosity of the stars a step further by starting a space research facility with Shera. Their current project was constructing a new model of the Shinra No. 26, the space shuttle that gave Rocket Town it's name. Barret was now overseeing the reconstruction of North Corel, and had taken up residence in one of the first homes rebuilt there. Reeve had developed an AI program for Cait Sith, and was still trying to recover from Shinra's closing. Vincent had spent his days traveling the world looking for something to occupy his time, but so far his search had been futile. Red XIII had taken the position of caretaker at the Cosmo Canyon Observatory. Now all eyes were on Cloud, man, they were in for a shocker.

"So Cloud, what have you been doing the past year?" Red asked.

"I've been learning how to play guitar, I want to start a band." Answered Cloud simply. At the end of this remark, even Vincent had an expression of slight surprise. Barret spoke first.

"Cloud. You, starting a band?" he asked with intense curiosity. Cloud nodded, fearing that Barret was going to think of this as a joke. But his fears subsided when Barret leaned back and smiled "You know, I used to play one kick-ass bass before…well, you know." he spoke nostalgically, tapping his gun-arm on the table.

"I personally think its a great idea, but I don't think I could assist you, seeing as I don't have opposable thumbs." said Red, his voice full of encouragement. Everyone else shared in Cloud's excitement, although none of them knew how to play anything, besides Cid, who could play the harmonica, but that wasn't very useful.

A moment later, Gonshiro stepped in to the circle around the table where Cloud's guitar was laid out.

"I can play drums" he said, confidently. All eyes turned to the young man, his blue hair done up in a Mohawk, and a spark of ambition now lingering in his eye. Barret broke the brief silence.

"Well why didn't you say so!?"

"Well, I tend to avoid intruding in on the conversations of groups of fully armed men and women." Gonshiro replied.

After Cid tried to size up his friends from a teenager's point of view he then agreed "yeah, we may look a little intimidating, but we're not after you, unless your some Rufus reincarnate…"

"That, is something I'm sure I'm not, but back to the original subject. I'll join your band… if you guys would take me, that is."

"are you kidding? Of course we'll take you!" Cloud exclaimed.

Tifa gleefully concluded, "Then its set, we have a band! Gonshiro, have you ever been in one before?"

"I had a band maybe two years back, it was me and a couple of my friends…" The teenager stopped in mid-sentence, a look of carefully hidden pain in his eyes "we were on our way to a gig in Junon, a bunch of Wutai boys… all crammed in a van with all our gear… we got pulled over by some Shinra troops right outside the city… they dragged us out of the van, and just started beating us… We fought back, and they brought out the assault rifles, then we didn't stand a chance… I got hit in the arm, and blacked out from blood loss, the sole survivor of that attack. When I regained consciousness, there was a someone bandaging my arm, I couldn't tell who, for the character's face was shadowed in a cloak… after the person had finished bandaging my arm, they took off on a chocobo, a marvelous golden chocobo, I'll never forget it, it was the most beautiful thing I had ever seen…." Gonshiro began to space out, but Barret interrupted his reminiscing with a question

"Didja try to find the person?"

"Huh?… Oh, yeah, I did, I spend about six months looking for him, or her, and I didn't come up with anything, Then I went back to Wutai to build a new drum set, my old one had been destroyed when Shinra… you know…."

Yuffie came over to Gonshiro to comfort him.

"How come you never told me this?" She asked.

"I guess it just never came up."

"Yeah Yuffie, I don't think that's something that Gonshiro would brag about to his girlfriend." Cid stated.

Tifa interrupted the depressing conversation by reverting back to the original topic.

"So, what are we going to call ourselves?"

"The Pink Fluffy Bunnies!!" Marlene blurted out from the top of Cait Sith's head. Everyone Chuckled.

"Sorry Marlene, Pink Fluffy Bunnies isn't going to work," Cloud answered "any other suggestions anyone?" 

"Hmmm…this could take a while…." Gonshiro said.

And take a while it did, the clock ticked one, and the newly formed trio sat at a booth in the corner, still undecided on their name, Everyone else was asleep in the upstairs rooms sleeping. Cloud shuffled through the pages of the list they had come up with.

"What was wrong with Pink Fluffy Bunnies again?" 

Gonshiro chuckled and then added "I know, this whole name thing is just one major setback…"

"That's it!" Tifa exclaimed.

"What? Whats it?" Cloud asked.

"Setback! That's a great name!" Tifa responded.

"Hmmm… You do have a point, Setback sounds pretty nice, and now its got a meaning behind it." Gonshiro observed.

"Then its final, our official name is Setback, now we've gotta put some music to that name, I was thinking we could go practice after we decided on a name, but I wasn't expecting to be up until one A.M. and still be undecided on one," Cloud concluded "So we can work on that tomorrow?"

"Sure" Gonshiro replied, "I've got my set on the Highwind, so we can unload it tomorrow morning"

"I'm up for it." Said Tifa, Yawning before continuing "It's been a fun, but we should crash for the night, 'cause I have a feeling we've got a lot of work to do at practice."

"Alright, goodnight both of you, I'll crash at my house tonight, those upstairs rooms must be packed." Cloud said, and he walked outside. He saw Vincent crouching atop the water tower gazing towards the shadow of a house on the outskirts of the little town. Cloud climbed up next to his dark friend, who seemingly didn't take notice of him. After a few moments, Vincent broke the silence.

" So , you're starting a band…"

"Yep… Why are you looking at the Shinra mansion? You can't possibly miss that place, could you?"

"Of course not, but there's something in there that could be useful to you later on."

"What is it?" 

"You will see when the time comes." And with that, Vincent leapt to the ground and strode into the now dimly lit bar. Cloud would have followed him and question him persistently, but those techniques did not work on the complex entity known as Vincent. So Cloud retired to his humble abode and sat against the headboard of his bed. He thought about what he was going to work on with Gonshiro and Tifa at the next day's practice, what secret Vincent knew about in the Shinra mansion, and if this whole band thing was going to work out. His mind swimming in ambitions, Cloud dozed off into another dream-filled night.


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